April 1, 1955: The Strategic Air Command (SAC) takes control of Westover AFB. The 4050th Air Refueling Wing becomes the host unit of Westover as the Strategic Air Command (SAC) takes over the base from the Military Air Transport Service (MATS).

Sept. 24, 1958: Capt. William H. Howell, 99th Air Refueling Squadron, captures a world weightlifting record flying a Westover KC-135A Stratotanker, airlifting a 78,089-pound payload more than one mile into the air.

The ‘60s

Jan. 9, 1961: The 347th Bombardment Squadron – one of three B-52 flying units of the 99th Bomb Wing – is reassigned to McCoy AFB, Fla., leaving the 346th and 348th Bombardment Squadrons at Westover.

April 1962: Strategic Air Command (SAC) establishes a auxiliary airborne command post at Westover. This was a Boeing EC-135 packed with communications equipment.

Nov. 10, 1965: The last KC-97 tanker leaves Westover for the boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz.

July 12, 1973: The 590th Air Force Band performs its farewell concert. Among the first active-duty Air Force units to leave the base following the Air Force’s announcement of the partial closure of Westover, the band left on Aug. 24 for McGuire AFB, N.J.

May 19, 1974: Westover becomes the nation’s first Air Force Reserve base.

Sources for this article include the history archives of the 439th Airlift Wing, past editions of the “Patriot,” Westover’s base newspaper; a Strategic Air Command website; “An Historical Walking Tour of Westover Air Reserve Base,” the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission; and “Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America,” by the USAF Historical Research Center; and “The Development of the Strategic Air Command 1946-1981

Web site visitors share memories of Westover

Air traffic controller recalls working RAPCON in late 1960s

A 439th Tactical Airlift Wing C-123K Provider takes off by the control tower in this mid-1970s photo. Note the famous SAC emblem still on the tower. When was the emblem removed?, If anyone has any information on when this might have occurred, please let me know by clicking on the Comments page. Crews literally tore the 1962-built structure down to the ground in July 2002. Being the Westover history nut that I am, I retrieved a concrete block from the rubble as a keepsake!

- photo from Westover Patriot newsletter archives

We had a west departure scope for departing aircraft where another controller would work. We had an arrival controller where another controller sat and worked the inbound traffic. And we had the capability to open up a separate scope for traffic around Barnes Airport. We did control arrivals of course into Westover but also into Westfield, Northampton and Palmer airports. There were seven people on each shift - all military.

Q. Did the aircraft use 15/33, like the C-5 pilots do these days?

A. Yes, when the wind dictated it we did. Northwest winds we used 33 and southeast winds 15.

Q. Did you work a lot of the minimum interval takeoffs with the tankers and bombers?A. Yes, MITO for short and I remember the scrambles with the B-52s. Also MARSA where Military Assumes Responsibility for Separation of Aircraft.

Q. Was everything on UHF in those days?A. No, civilians were on VHF so we had the capability for both. Although civilians did not land at Westover we worked them into Westfield, Northampton, Palmer and overflights.

Q. Was there anything you particularly liked about working at such a large and important base? Anything you disliked?A. It was like a miniature city with its own schools, hospitals, stores, etc. Very self-sufficient. Loved being on the fast pitch softball team. Actually the beginning of a long time playing softball for me. Also was on the bowling league. I disliked having to work the shifts we worked. It always seemed

like you were working. We started on the 5 p.m. to midnight shift. Then came in the next day at noon at worked until 5 p.m. Then came in the next morning at 7 a.m. until noon, then back at midnight. Short shifts but always working. Then two days off and into the same routine.

Q. Where did you live - on-base or off-base?A. I had a room in the barracks but did mostly live at home in Enfield, Conn.

TOM HILDRETHThe following is my e-mail interview with Tom Hildreth, an excellent photogapher, former Air Force and Air National Guard historian, and someone who lived next door to Westover during the base's busiest era. You can see Tom's photos on many of my pages.

Q. Glad you liked the 1957 aerial. Very interesting indeed! You can see there are no KC-135s yet. But look closely on the flight line and you'll see a B-47 parked between the BUFFs.A. Yes, I noticed that Stratojet. Actually there were probably more B-47 wings that reported to HQ 8th AF at Westover than B-52 wings. That is just because there were so many B-47 wings-they made 2,000 Stratojets.

Q. When did you live in South Hadley?A. We moved from Holyoke to South Hadley in spring, 1955. At both school systems there were many USAF dependents, and I had many as friends. My best friend’s dad in South Hadley was a navigator on the KC-135s from 1956, having arrived from Little Rock. Only through knowing Ritchie Jones did I learn there was such a thing as racial problems, as Little Rock was an historic moment for African Americans back then.

Q. I can only imagine the sights and noise from the base. It must have been very busy.A. An early South Hadley recollection is watching the F-86Ds at dusk blasting out over Granby in afterburner, flame showing brightly. A few years later the 337th FIS had F-104As and routinely broke the sound barrier,

Tom Hildreth and his friends pictured above are the late Daniel H. Moore (center) and Paul Bernier, left, all from South Hadley Falls, Mass. They are standing underneath B-52C #54-2685 during a Westover Armed Forces Day.

Karen Malinowski lived in Chicopee. I interviewed her in the fall of 2001. She recalled what it was like to grow up near Westover. She lived in a house near Granby Road until she was 19.

Q. What was the flight activity at Westover like back then?A. It was constant. When I was a kid it used to make us feel good because my dad was in the military, and he used to say, ‘As long as you hear those planes you know you’re safe.’ As kids it was excruciating. They constantly flew over and they were real close. They were just taking off because we were in their flight path. By the time they were over our house it looked like they were on the roof of our parents’ house when they took off. They were that close.

Q. Was it to a point where you got used to it or did you ever get used to it?A. Well, you kind of got used to it. When you were out playing, you would just stop for a minute. Then when it was gone you started talking again. But then sometimes it was annoying because they would come one after another after another. And you’d wonder when are they going to stop?

Q. Describe a typical afternoon as a child in your back yard.A. We used to lay on our backs and look up in the air and watch them. The way the base was … when the planes took off … you thought you could almost touch them. We could read the writing on them. They had little funny designs on them. One would have something like Woody Woodpecker or something on it. The jets were huge and loud, oh my God loud. I remember you hear them go through the sound barrier. It was like this pop noise or something like that.

Q. What was it like growing up next to a huge Air Force base? Describe the human connection.A lot of the kids whose parents were stationed there went to our school. It was just kind of sad though because a lot of them would be there for a short time and then the following year they wouldn’t be back, because they had to move. My sister was really devastated when a friend of hers that she was really close with had left. You’d meet all of these new friends and have a ball and then all of a sudden the following year they would be gone, and that was the bad part of it. I loved having that base there. I saw men and women in uniform everywhere.

Q. What about the base today?A. It makes me feel good. I like the planes there. I like that base there. If it were to be gone I think it would bother me. I feel safe with it there.

I have many recollections of Westover, I was here during the "Great Blackout of the Northeast," I was here during "Operation Arc Light" and when the Reserves moved her from Bradley Field with their C-124s.I first arrived at Westover in December of 1964 and remained stationed there until June of 1968 (5 June); the first thing I can recall was watching the assassination of Robert Kennedy on the day of my discharge.When I first arrived here I remember being told of the population of the base...25,000 military and dependents. It’s considerably smaller now but the dedication of those here remains just as committed as when SAC was here.Westover has been a major influence on me virtually my entire adult life and quite frankly know one could ask for a better influence.

Jim Musser18th Communications Squadron1962-1965

I came to Westover after completing a 12-month tour on North Mountain at Thule AB, Greenland. I was assigned to the 18th Comm Sqdn, and worked in the maintenance section at the Short Order Receiver Site which was located near the curve on the road (by Ludlow gate)to the then Stony Brook AFS.Our transmitter site was off base in Granby, Mass. "Short Order" was SAC's primary HF radio net, and as such, it played a vital part in SAC's Primary Alert Function. Westover, Barksdale, and March field, along with Offutt in Omaha, NE., were the four primary bases (each was HQ to a numbered Air Force) and along with their respective Combat Operation Centers coupled with the "Looking Glass" aircraft, enabled SAC to be in continual communication with any SAC base, or aircraft, anywhere in the world.My wife and 4-month-old daughter and I first lived in Gill's trailer park, just outside the main gate. It took us awhile to get acclimated to the noise the BUFFs made at takeoff routinely, and ORI's were particularly LOUD. We used to joke that the "wheels rubbed the trailer roof" on that one...(seemed like it was especially loud during inclement weather).Even the "Cocoa" alerts were noisy living that close. Later we moved to an apartment in South Hadley Falls, and slept better. Among our many memories, I would include seeing the Kennedy's when they visited in Oct. 63, just prior to their fateful trip to Dallas. We had a big-time alert the day of the assassination, and for a period afterwards until things calmed down.Also, the Broken Arrow of 64 in Cumberland, Md. I was on the 8AF Disaster Control Team, but was alternate for that incident and did not make the trip. Our second daughter was born on base 21 JUL 65. I left Westover in SEP 65 and returned to civilian life, but I will always remember the tremendous spirit that was part of the many people that I met and worked with while being stationed there."Peace is Our Profession" and "Zero Defects" were two campaigns I remember that spoke highly of the people of Westover, and SAC. Westover was the largest employer in Mass., at that time.Thanks for what you’re doing with the web page. Keep up the good work.

Tom Nallen

I was with my father at the groundbreaking ceremony at Westover. He took the only photo that I’ve ever seen of the first spadeful of earth turned that day. The "groundbreaker" we always thought by me to be Mayor Anthony Stonina, however I've since learned that the person pictured was Chicopee businessman J.G. Roy, who at the time served as President of the Chicopee Board of Aldermen. Mr. Roy wore a soft hat and, in the photo, his head is tilted forward as he stepped on the shovel, obscuring his face.At the time of Westover's 50th anniversary I turned the photo over to people at Westover for what was supposed to be a permanent exhibit on the base. Many items were donated by many people.At P.J. Scott's (restaurant) there are many more historic Westover photos. I think that they may available for your use. I have other photos Pop took that day...of the reviewing stand and a flight of B-18 bombers passing high overhead. I'm not sure that the B-18 photos are usable because with the box cameras of the day the planes are mere dots in the sky.I think that you've done a masterful job with the website. I have a number of anecdotes regarding Westover. Summers while attending Chicopee High School, I worked at what was then known as the PX restaurant on the base.

You might have found the answer to the following already but in case you haven't the last B-52 left Westover in late March of 1972 and never returned.We got the call to go to Guam and Thailand about mid-March of 1972. I was working 2nd shift 3 to 11 pm the night we got the call. I closed up the aircraft we had about 2130 and headed home. about 2230 I received a call to report back to Dock 14.We were told at that time that we were being deployed to Guam as part of Linebacker 1.The day shift troops stayed and got the planes ready to go while the night shift troops went home to pack. The following day we all processed and by 2200 that night we were boarding 4 commercial aircraft on the North ramp. All the 52s were launched by this time.While in Guam we got the word that the Westover B52s would be transferred to other bases after the deployment and Westover was to be deactivated in 1974.In September we rotated back to Westover for a 30-day basket leave but the aircraft stayed in Guam. I was getting out in January of 1973 so in October of 1972 I watched everyone board the airplanes for their trip back to Guam.Myself and about 6 others stayed at Westover till our discharges came doing numerous odd jobs just to keep busy. When I left in January there were no airplanes parked on the ramp other than the reserves with their C-124s.

Charles Albaugh1960-196499th FMS electrical and missile tech.

I spent 4 years in SAC working mainly on the B-52 and also many various aircraft while in the 99th Field Maintenance Squadron from 1960 to Mar. 9th 1964. We had mainly the "C" and "D" models of the B-52. Some of the aircraft I worked on were the F-100, F-101, F-102, F-108, B-58, BritainVulcan and Victor. I was stationed at Westover for the Cuban Missile situation and got out just before Vietnam really got going. All in all, I liked being stationed at Westover and would probably have stayed in, if it wasn't for the previous situation escalating in the forefront.

Jeff Smith1958-1962814th Air Police Squadron

Winters were brutal especially on midnight shift on nose or tail of the aircraft. We were issued severe weather gear called hawk gear which apparently was a term used by airman from Chicago area as a term for wind.It consisted of a parka with wolf's fur around the hood. Bulky lined pants and boots that were rubber and leather sheep skinned lined used by B-17 airmen on missions over Germany. An old trick was to wear women’s nylon stockings under your pants as they were a great insulator. The only break was for chow where they came around in a bus or 4-door international harvester pickup and dropped your relief for an hour.We were on duty in all kinds of weather: sun, rain, wind, and snow. I remember riding out a hurricane in the wheel well of a B-52. I still recall that the tires had strands of steel impregnated in them making it a bit uncomfortable. Keep up that great site.

John Rychcik1963-1965814th Supply Squadron

I arrived at Westover from basic on June 14, 1963 and left Sept. 25, 1965 for Galena AFS Alaska. Westover means so much to me in precious memories that include:- The lasting impression of the day working at base supply when we all received the word that President Kennedy had been shot.- Walking into the day room at our barracks and seeing Lee Harvey Oswald being shot on television- Remembering President Kennedy's trip to Westover the month before when he came to dedicate the Robert Frost Memorial Library at Amherst.- My 21st birthday celebration at the Airman's club, countless visits to nearby towns. Hampton Ponds, the bar Ma Manning’s, standing up in two weddings when my roommates married local girls- Watching the pilots get out to the flight line for alerts from the base supply window- All the great civilian and military buddies in the priority section of base supply where I was an aircraft monitor for grounded KC135 aircraft. I miss my friends I never saw again after.I think about Westover a lot. The B-52s sure made a heck of a sound I can still hear in the heart today. I thank God for all the good times the Pioneer Valley gave me. I was discharged from Alaska, took advantage of college because of my military time, went on to teach school for 30 years and still live in my hometown of Salamanca, N.Y. 60 miles south of Buffalo.I wonder what ever happened to my girlfriend from Our Lady of the Elms College? The military and Westover made more of an impression than any other time period of my life. It helped me to grow up with a sense of purpose and positive direction in my life.

Though I only entered the Air Force to fulfill my national commitment, I have always felt it was one of the best moves I ever made in my whole working career.While I was at Westover, there were two crashes. A KC-135 tail # 498 crashed two miles off the north end of the runway and a VC-97 ran off the runway after having landed with unsafe-gear conditions and retraction tests which were completed there at Westover. I think a general officer who later became commander of 13th Air Force at Clark Field was at the controls.I was also there when the whole base was emptied as a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis.I think the most memorable site that I experienced was during the "Coco" alerts. ( I think that was what they called them)All of the alert KC-135s and the B-52s taxied down the runway during a simulated deployment. It was my understanding that though they provided fairly realistic training they were actually designed to reposition the Westover fleet around the flight line.I was almost crushed in the tail section of a KC-135 when I was working on APN-69 Beacon radar set. Though red plaques had been installed on both yokes, "Do not engage Auto-pilot, Maintenance personnel may be injured" some one enjoyed watching the autopilot trim wheels go around and began playing with the yoke switches. The horizontal stabilizer jack screw "ate" my field jacket just as I was trying to get out of it.ORI's, TDY deployments, and just day-to-day operations was pretty heady stuff back then.As I think back there were a number of things that occurred while I was stationed there. As I said I believe I arrived at the base in January 1962. I think while I was still checking in, an Airman was acting as a wing walker as they were moving a KC-135 (towing using a tug) from the line to a nose dock or hanger area, and because of the severe cold he had his hood up on his parka. As a result, he did not watch where he was going and was run over by the airplane.I remember that I never marched in any formation all the while I was stationed there.Because I was single and there were several married folks in my squadron, I worked mid-shift most of the time. I was working the night 498 crashed. It was raining cats and dogs. A B-52 came down around 10:30 p.m. and we had a KC-97 come back around 11 p.m. with no write-ups. We just had 498 left to go and we could go to sleep if there were no write ups. We waited (playing cards in the shop) for job control to call. If I recall the boom operator was the only one that was killed. I'm almost 65 years old now and my memory isn't as good as it used to be.For the most part I enjoyed my stay there. It was much better than Sondrestrom, Greenland which is where I was stationed before I got to Westover. However, I had not been at Westover maybe 90 days and had completed my basic cross training from AFSC 30453 to 30131, and had achieved fairly good grades, they sent me back to Sondestrom for 30 or 60 days TDY to baby set the KC-97's that Westover had prepositioned there for 'Chrome Dome" emergency support. There were three of us from the squadron that had to go. It was a rotating situation and luckily I never had to do it again.I wonder if they still have those incredibly good "grinders" up there? They were submarine sandwiches. Years later when I was working In California for TRW a fellow opened a little sandwich shop not far from the plant. I had one of his "subs" and asked him where he learned to make it, "in New England?" He said that's exactly where he learned how to make them. They were that good.

John Vacon was assigned to the 18th Communications Squadron at Westover AFB in the late 1960s. He worked at the radar approach control (RAPCON) facility. He is the air traffic manager today at Westover Air Reserve Base.

Q. Please tell me more about yourself - where you were born, how long you were in the Air Force, how and when you were assigned to Westover.A. I was born in Woburn, Mass., outside of Boston in 1949. Was drafted in February 1969 so ran down to the Air Force recruiter and signed up for what appeared to be an interesting job: air traffic control specialist. Did not know anything about it at the time. Went to school at Keesler and lucked out and got assigned to Westover upon completion. It was the only base I was at excluding school and basic training. After I got out of the AF I got a job with the FAA at Westfield, and then moved to Hartford, then Bradley. In 1981 was caught up in the strike. I became a fire marshal in Connecticut for 24 years before getting back into air traffic in 1998 back at Hartford Brainard, and then was thrilled to get a job here back at my old "alma mater." Liittle did I know in the 60’s that someday I would become the air traffic manager at this great field.

Q. Where was the RAPCON located?A. At the present location of the fire department (Ed. note: located along the flight line near the Base Hangar).

Q. According to the research I have done, the volume of air traffic in and out of the base was astonishing. How did you and the other controllers manage to guide so many aircraft around the traffic pattern?A. I worked in the approach control so I can only speak about that. We had two positions of controllers who worked the aircraft in on PAR approaches (precision approaches).

sometimes very loudly. That was later outlawed, and for good reason. I was up on a long ladder painting my house here in Vermont decades later and it occurred to me how dangerous an unannounced supersonic flyover would have been at that moment-I would have recoiled and likely fallen off the ladder! One time the 337th went to Canada to do a flyover at a new airport terminal. Supposedly they blew out all the new glass windows in the terminal!As far as noise from large aircraft was concerned, yes it was pretty continuous. The KC-97 was never an offender, as it hummed along pretty quickly. The C-124 Globemaster (Many of which undoubtedly were used to transport the nukes to Stony Brook AFS), was another story. Powered by the same R-4360 engines as the KC-97, it had a three-blade prop and lumbered over slowly and loudly. The B-36s from Loring AFB, ME (mostly) were the same problem many times over. The B-52s at Westover had loud J-57 turbojets without noise reduction equipment. On takeoff the B-52s (and KC-135s, for that matter) would often head out over Chicopee and roar over the WHYN radio studio in Springfield (near the old Springfield airport site, which was long defunct by then). Around 5:00 PM the poor newsman at WHYN would be trying to get through the news and in the background, even though he was in an acoustic broadcast studio, the roar of the B-52s was so pronounced you could count how many of them were airborne. It was funny, I hope someone has audio tapes of this. One sound that was common at Westover and everywhere else in the Air Force was the sound of the big ground power units. MB-40s? I was trained on some of them and now I can’t remember what their nomenclature was for sure. Think of a cold, foggy morning, around 0200 hrs and you would hear those power units droning. Then the engine troops would start the ground runs on the J-57s. Some nights it would go on intermittently all night. (I recall similar activity at Westover during Desert Storm I.) Lots of work going on around the clock. I believe that much of the time in the late 1950s there were at least 500 J-57s on base at Westover. The job of engine maintenance simply couldn’t be completed during day shift, there was way too much work.

Q. Records show that air traffic "peaked" at Westover in 1962. There were more than 87,000 military aircraft departures and arrivals. I'm sure that had something to do with the Cuban Missile Crisis.A. Before there were scanner radios I had a little aviation band rig on which I could hear the Westover Radar Approach (RAPCON) facility. Back then, civil airports like Bradley had limited all-weather operational capability by comparison. Westover’s RAPCON people used the old technology that involved talking the approaching aircraft down the glide path. Around the time I got out of the Air Force in 1969, radar approaches at Westover were taken over by the FAA at Bradley Field. The big radar at Westover by the swimming pool was decommissioned around that time, too-another indication that responsibility for Westover’s airspace was in the hands of the FAA.

Q. As you probably know, Brig. Gen. Donald W. Saunders was commander of the 57th Air Division and was on board the KC-135 that crashed in June 1958. He and 14 other people were killed. I can still see where the trees and brush were burned up by the Mass Pike from the huge explosion so many years ago.A. My brother woke me up that night. He told me he had seen a bright light that illuminated all the trees and the sky around our house. We speculated on what it may have been well into the night. The next day we learned of the fatal crash. I believe the performance of a fully-loaded KC-135A on some takeoff profiles would be considered pretty marginal today. I guess this tells us something about the professionalism and skill of the crews back then. The mission was pretty well defined, but the technology of the day brought the crews a bit closer to the edge. Not that for a minute I would take away anything from today’s airmen.

Comments, questions?Please include your name, rank, unit , and when you were assigned to the base and e-mail to: